by The Museum of Pop Culture (or MoPOP, as they like to call themselves) in Seattle, Washington, where we found ourselves on an extended layover returning from Alaska. The museum was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000, with the initial collection coming from Allen’s personal accumulation of random things that interested him. And it shows when walking through the museum. It felt very unfocused, with almost anything qualifying under the theme of “pop culture.”
The museum was originally known as Experience Music Project. Then the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Then the EMP Museum. It’s like even they can’t figure out what they are all about.
The museum is located in a 140,000 square-foot building designed by Frank O. Gehry, which is in of itself a site to behold (a positive or negative experience on viewing it is up to each individual, of course). Inside can be found exhibits themed around fantasy, horror cinema, stage and screen costumes, science fiction, and much more. One minute you’re looking at a fragment of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, the next you’re looking at the Kardashians (<<shudder>>).
The museum was reasonably fun if pricey experience at $30 a pop. I found the exhibit on Nirvana (Dave Grohl, I’ll never forgive you) and the Seattle music scene interesting, having really fallen hard for grunge as a teen, but much of the museum was not focused on things I was especially interested in.
